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NJACCRRA New Jersey Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies |
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Public Policy and Advocacy Issues New Jersey's early care and education system is comprised of more than 4,000 licensed child care centers and 3,400 registered family child care homes, responsible for caring for more than 280,000 of our state's youngest citizens. The services provided for the children in these centers and homes set their foundation and prepare them for productive futures. Investing in early care can help ensure that young children are given opportunities to develop basic language, literacy, problem-solving, and social interaction skills, and truly enter school ready to learn. Without access to a high quality early care and education program, that child may have missed opportunities to master these skills.A recent New Jersey Child Care Economic Impact Council study reported that the child care industry supports more than 65,000 full-time equivalent jobs - a number larger than those in pharmaceutical, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, and building constructions. The same study found that the child care industry generates $2.55 billion in gross receipts - more than scientific research and development, clothing stores and all farm commodities in the state. This industry's workforce and financial implications are an underrepresented, yet highly influential component to New Jersey's economy. High quality child care and early education also ensures that New Jersey's employees are able to keep working. Various studies link absenteeism, tardiness, morale, and work productivity to the quality of a worker's child care arrangement. Evidence suggests that over 25% of employees can name peers who have quit their job because they could not depend on or afford quality child care. NJACCRRA's advocacy work on early care and education issues builds on local efforts coordinated through county child care resource and referral agencies to involve parents, providers, and child advocates in ensuring that New Jersey's families have access to high-quality, safe, and affordable, child care. NJACCRRA focuses its' advocacy work around the following critical issues currently impacting New Jersey's early care and education system: ISSUE # 1. New Jersey's child care subsidy reimbursement rate does not allow equal access to the full range of options within the current child care market. Maximum reimbursement rates are significantly below the market rate. This limits parental choice by forcing subsidized families to either pay the difference between the center rate and voucher payment or place their child in an under-funded child care arrangement with insufficient resources to ensure quality. Families who qualify for child care subsidy assistance have limited options and too often choose care based on cost rather than quality. Another related concern is that child care programs that do accept the state maximum payment rate are not able to attract and retain qualified teaching staff, better equip classrooms, and upgrade curriculum materials - all indicators of quality care that have been well documented by research. RECOMMENDATION: The maximum reimbursement rates for center based, family child care, and approved home providers must be raised to reflect the 75th percentile of rates local providers charge families without a subsidy to ensure eligible children have equal access to quality child care. ISSUE # 2. Although infants and toddlers are our most vulnerable population in child care, there is no formal education program and little specialized training for New Jersey's infant and toddler caregivers. At least 50 percent of New Jersey's mothers with children under the age of three are employed outside of the home and an estimated 12 percent of infants and toddlers attend a regulated child care program. Research tells us that the first three years of life are the formative years; almost 90% percent of a child's core brain structure is formed during this critical time. Child care center staff and family child care providers caring for infants and toddlers can have a tremendous impact on a child's future success. Despite this fact, caregivers of infants and toddlers typically do not receive adequate training in early child development and/or methods of teaching which can optimize learning for infants and toddlers. RECOMMENDATION: While it would be most beneficial to have educators trained and certified in infant development for every young classroom, it is clear that we are several years from that possibility. Until that time, NJACCRRA is advocating for funding an infant/toddler specialist in each county's child care resource and referral agency to provide mentoring and training for center based and family child care providers caring for infants and toddlers in local communities. ISSUE #3. The NJ Department of Labor has not clarified that an employee-employer relationship does not exist between family child care providers or approved home providers and the local CCR&Rs, a decision that could add millions of dollars to the cost of subsidized child care in New Jersey. At the present time, child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies in New Jersey administer the New Jersey Cares for Kids (NJCK) child care subsidy payments on behalf of parents. Enrolled parents select their provider choice (center, family child care or approved home) and the CCR&R issues a subsidy payment to that child care provider. In addition, CCR&Rs serve as the registering agency for family child care homes and the home inspector for approved homes. These responsibilities are conducted following the regulations established by the Office of Licensing and DFD. Recently, the New Jersey Department of Labor determined that a local CCR&R was the employer of these home-based providers and was responsible for paying wage taxes as the providers' employer. This is of grave concern to the CCR&R agencies and has far-reaching financial implications for both the CCR&R network and the State of New Jersey - implications not limited to child care, but potentially to all third-party payors of government supported programs. If this determination is unchanged, future child care subsidy payments to thousands of home based providers would need to include the employer costs, taxes, and benefits associated with establishing an employer-employee relationship and would add millions of dollars to the cost of subsidized child care in New Jersey. RECOMMENDATION: The Department of Labor and Governor of New Jersey must adopt statutory text which stipulates that an approved home or registered provider of family child care that receives federal, state, or local funds either directly or on behalf of a parent who is a child care subsidy recipient does not establish an employee-employer relationship between the child care provider and the authorized child care subsidy payors. ISSUE # 4. It is difficult to identify, interpret, and rate indicators of quality within New Jersey's child care system. New Jersey licensed child care centers and registered family child care providers are required to meet only minimal standards. Parents receive little or no information about the quality of care provided in these centers and homes. RECOMMENDATION: New Jersey should join the ranks of other states that have established a quality-of-care rating systems. A rating system could inform consumers, recognize and reward the quality of care provided in child care centers and family child care homes, and support tiered reimbursement rates based on standards of quality. Such a system would use licensing standards as a baseline and establish levels of quality based on criteria that are associated with improved child development, learning, and well-being. ISSUE #5. The annual Cost of Living Adjustment for state-contracted organizations does not reflect the increased costs of conducting business and providing services in New Jersey. Training and retaining a qualified child care workforce is critical. Last year the cost of living adjustment for all Department of Human Service contracts was only 1%. It is clear that this adjustment does not come close to addressing the increased cost of doing business each year. There must be an appropriate annual adjustment tied in to economic indicators which allows state-contracted agencies to continue to provide quality programs for New Jersey residents. RECOMMENDATION: Provide agencies contracting with the Department a fair COLA that will support them in maintaining their level and quality of contracted services. To contact your local legislator, click here. NJACCRRA partners with a variety of advocacy groups in New Jersey and nationwide. The following agencies offer valuable advocacy information regarding current public policy in the area of early care and education:
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